


Clockwork Butterflies

by TheQuiescentQuill



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-19
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-05 20:24:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/727563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQuiescentQuill/pseuds/TheQuiescentQuill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They are different. She and Him. They come from different worlds, they are different people, there are times they seem so opposite he doubts they could have ever been friends had it not been from a chance encounter, a flirtatious young woman and an anxious young man may never have encountered one another. </p><p>But some how, here they were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prologue for what I hope to make part of a much bigger project.

Currently they were crouched on a thin metal walk way, bodies tucked out of sight in the shadows and they listened to the movement of others below them.

In hands that were damp and clammy she held the gun, her breathing was steady as she could manage it. She shifted her weight slightly, from her left foot to her right foot, her body carefully positioned in a crouch that, had she been wearing a skirt, would have looked most unlady-like. Adrenaline was already making its way through her system and she could feel her legs shaking slightly. She allowed one of her eyes to close, she was taking as much control of this situation as possible. She felt the other near her, his body was close, she could feel the heat radiating off him.

He was murmuring to himself, the low tone of his voice was a comfort to her as she waited for them to be spotted, to be heard, for someone below them to look up at the wrong angle. It was her job to pull the trigger, to silence them and create enough of a distraction that they could slip away unnoticed or as unnoticed as two people who had just assassinated someone could slip away.

He leaned over to murmur softly in her ear that the movement below them was getting farther away, his breath sent a shiver down her spine and he was close enough that she could feel the stubble on his cheek brush against her skin. Her breathing quickened slightly, he didn’t seem to notice. She felt herself relax against him. It had become common place for her to do so over the past few days, she often slept slumped against him and vice versa. Though their beginning had not been greatest and it had been by chance, she had found herself growing fond of him. Perhaps even growing to love him.

Not that he would ever learn of this, to begin with how could she go about telling him? Would it be fair? In their line of work she doubted it would be, what if one or the other died? She didn’t know if she could properly move on from that idea.

But the way she felt when he was close to her was hard to ignore, a strange, warm feeling that forced its way through her in a way that was far from unpleasant, if anything she enjoyed it, welcomed it. She often wondered if she gave him the same intense butterflies that he gave her, wondered if he longed to be held by her the same way she longed to be held by him.

Her head buried in her own thoughts she had grown distracted and taken her eyes away from the ground below her, she was studying Felix instead of the ground. Unfortunately that had been their mistake.

Felix hadn’t been in the right angle to spy the other person, had Natalie been looking she might have seen it coming before the searing pain. But she hadn’t and the next thing she knew things were warm and sticky and red, in places things shouldn’t be warm and sticky and red and there were arms wrapped around her that she had only dreamed about.  
He was talking to her, she realised, a smile made its way to her lips and she lifted a hand to his cheek and as she breathed she found that there were black spots developing in her vision. And slowly, through the strange numbness that had followed the pain and the clatter of the gun as it hit the floor and her body suddenly being hoisted up against him, her eyes closed.


	2. The Little Minx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why am I here?” He questioned sharply.
> 
> “Oh, silly me, I must have neglected to tell you.” Her tone was far too optimistic.
> 
> “Yes, you must have.”
> 
> “Well, you see Mr Griffith, we have decided that you could probably be quite useful to us.”

Felix Griffith was an alert young man, with an unfaltering (Almost worryingly so) loyalty. He was also a young man who was currently firmly tied to a chair, with an aching head, which he assumed was how they had managed to get him here. His wrists were tied behind him and rope was winding its way around his torso, even his ankles had been firmly attached to the legs of the chair. Whoever had tied these knots was making sure he wasn’t going anywhere. He felt as though he had been sat in that same position for days on end, his muscles were stiff and sore. The rope around his wrists was beginning to hurt, it was digging into his skin and he could only imagine the damage.

A dimly lit lamp that hung above his head was his only current source of light, it’s cheap shade was leaving a strange pattern on the papered walls around him leading him to believe that he was being held somewhere that had been previously used as a living space and had been converted into a make shift interrogation room. There was a cheap table too a little way in front of him, on it rested a jug of clear water and a glass and what he thought was a small notebook.

Then there was the door, it was solid and metal, a round handle was planted firmly in the middle and there was a small window just above it, the window’s glass dirty and useless to see through. It was similar to the door of a ship. In fact, the humming of an engine somewhere below him, alerted him to the fact that it probably was the door of a ship. He jumped when the handle spun, alerting him to the fact that someone was entering and he prepared himself to shout, to yell and cause a fuss.

The person he assumed to be his interrogator entered and his words stopped in his throat because his interrogator was not only woman, but an incredibly small young woman who didn’t look very heavily built. She was pixie like in proportions but through all else her eyes caught him. Wide and blue, childlike, a truly captivating feature, the most frightening thing was that they were familiar. She was dressed strangely as well, there was no skirt in sight, no countless petticoats, but a pair of tight, sandy brown, high waisted trousers that fell just beneath her knees, a white blouse and an under bust corset. Resting on the top of her head was a pair of goggles.

“You’re awake.” She stated with ease as the door closed behind her and she slid onto the table, crossing one leg delicately over the other. Felix didn’t answer her, simply grunted in reply and her lips upturned in a slight smile. He could practically feel the amusement radiating off of her.

Felix studied her face and the more he studied her face the more he questioned why it was so familiar to him. She had soft cheek bones and her jaw curved gently, her lips were rose coloured and as they peeled back into a wider smile her whole face lifted, it was the kind of smile that reached her eyes. He had to admit, this girl was attractive.

It was then, as that thought entered his head, that he realised he was staring right at Eloise Fox, a rather prestigious young woman whose father played a large role in the current political affairs of their country. Political affairs that had caused a divide between classes, a revolution from those of lower class status and Eloise Fox was standing right in front of him, not only dressed in trousers but had him tied to a chair.

And as these thoughts entered his head, brief snapshots of memory slipped into his mind of a smiling blonde woman at a ball who had taken his hand demanded he dance with her and so he had, he remembered commenting on how she must have taken lessons and she’d laughed and simply gripped him tighter, declaring that she had and wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he had noticed. He remembered noticing how small her hands were compared to his and how her wrists were covered in jewellery that was probably worth more than his life.

She had introduced herself by her full name, “Eloise Natalia Fox” and demanded following this that he call her “Natalie”. She didn’t give reasoning, simply told him that it had “Always been like that.” He didn’t question it.

He remembered how she had led him away from the rest of the festivities by the hand and they had found themselves in the cool night air. He offered her his jacket, she declined. He realized now that she had successfully managed to isolate him, things beyond that got more than a little blurred. It would appear that the little vixen sitting in front of him had been flirting with him in order to kidnap him. That he had been part of a job. He wasn’t quite sure how he should feel about that particular notion.

“Staring is rude, you know.” Her voice burst through his thoughts, her head tilting ever so slightly, her weight shifting on the table. Felix watched her legs tighten slightly and he couldn’t tell for certain if the action was one of discomfort or not. He hoped it was.

“So is kidnapping someone.” He replied with a somewhat indignant sniff, ignoring the hoarseness of his voice and just how rough it really sounded. She seemed to ignore it as she reached for the jug and he watched her as she poured a small amount of water into the glass. Natalie lifted the glass to her lips and after a moment leaned forward slightly with the glass in her outstretched hand.

“Thirsty?” Felix couldn’t tell if she was genuinely curious or if she was trying to tease him. The young blond man licked his lips, his mouth and throat were dry and he was tempted but not ready to beg for it.

“No.” His tone was sharp.

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged as she slowly withdrew, placing the glass back down on the table next to her. Slowly, Natalie slid off the table and made the short walk towards him, she circled him once, like a vulture circles a dead corpse, before she stopped in front of him. She had the cheek to bend to him, it was as though she was patronising him, eyes studying him and one hand sliding out to touch the skin of his cheek. “You need to shave.” She declared before pulling her hand away, Felix shivered as her fingers traced across his cheek. Turning on her heel she made her way back to the table, Felix wondered if he was just imagining the way her hips were swinging.

“So… Mr Griffith,” She was practically purring as his name rolled off her tongue, he wasn’t sure he liked it, “Are you quite comfortable?” Now she was teasing him.

“What do you think?” He hissed back at her, eyes narrowing.

“I think that somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” She replied, leaning against the table.

“Don’t you mean chair?” He snapped at her, leaning forward slightly and pushing against the ropes around his torso.

“A very good point.” She declared after a moment of thought, an amused glint forming in her eyes and she lifted the glass again and drained the last of the water from it. “It was quite a job getting you tied to it, you know, we had to have someone hold you up and someone tie the ropes… I was the one doing the tying of course.” She seemed almost proud of her handiwork.

He was not particularly certain whether or not now, was a good time to feel sorry for himself; after all he was being held captive by a young woman who had played with his heart as though it was a child’s toy to get him here and quite frankly that had hurt. Particularly seeing as they had seemed to be getting along quite well through the most of the night, she had seemed happy enough in his arms, hadn’t questioned why he had been drinking, never faltered once even when he had nearly stepped on her feet. He supposed it had been too good to be true. It was always too good to be true.

His mind strayed back to the few other people he had become romantically involved with, the first girl he had really fallen for had turned out to be a snake. Abusive and spoilt, a young woman who had been given too much far too young. He shook those thoughts from his mind.

Felix recalled reports of Natalie that praised her, she was Daryl Fox’s youngest daughter and though her lineage was somewhat questionable, she was thought of fondly by many. But here she was, going against her father’s cause, dressed in a nearly scandalous manner and swinging her hips at a man she barely knew.

The little minx.

She was delightful to look at but poisonous in her wake and Felix hated her, no matter what small amount of sentiment he may have found himself feeling towards her the night before now he hated her. She was a tease, a horrible, awful tease and a flirt who had managed to capture his heart in seconds. The bitch had obviously had practice, it was no wonder so many people had such nice things to say about her. She disgusted him.

She probably thought she was far above him anyway, she had been held on a pedestal her whole and probably knew nothing of respect and working every day of your life to get the things you want. She had never seen struggle or bloodshed, all she had seen was the wrong side of someone’s bed. Had she been a man he would have hit her, he would have drawn back and punched her but he couldn’t. For a start he was tied to a chair and secondly she was a woman and he had been brought up being taught you don’t hit women, mainly by his sisters.

He clenched his jaw and shifted in his chair, he was angry at her and she was just sitting there, she wasn’t even doing anything and he was angry at her. She knew he was angry, it must have been why she was so fucking calm.

“You seem tense.”

“Do I really?” He hissed as her through clenched teeth, he seen the quirk of her lips, the smile she was trying to hide.

“Mmhm and from personal experience, people are no fun when they’re tense.” She hummed softly, a bright laugh passing her lips. Felix shivered slightly, you could almost be sucked back into trusting her with a laugh like that. But his anger returned quickly.

“Why am I here?” He questioned sharply.

“Oh, silly me, I must have neglected to tell you.” Her tone was far too optimistic.

“Yes, you must have.”

“Well, you see Mr Griffith, we have decided that you could probably be quite useful to us.” Felix mulled this statement over briefly, it could mean a number of things. Though from the stories he had been told, torturing people for information was not below them.

“What do you mean?” He questioned, his tone remaining dangerous.

“It means I have one question for you, sir.” There was a pause, he assumed for dramatic effect, “Would you like to be part of the revolutionaries?”


End file.
